Heart to Heart
by RAMSPEL
Summary: J'onn and Eliza have a brief conversation about Alex and Kara and why J'onn recruited Alex to work for the DEO. This takes place during the season finale soon after Kara flies Fort Rozz into space and Alex saves her.


_Disclaimer: I don't own Supergirl._

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The med bay door opened showing J'onn J'onzz he had a visitor.

"How are you doing?" Eliza Danvers greeted him.

"Much better, thank you for asking. How's Kara?"

"All the tests came back normal. Dr. Hamilton assures us that she is going to be fine, but she says it'll still probably be a few hours before she regains consciousness."

"Kara's a strong woman. I'm sure she will be fine. What about Alex; how is she doing?"

Eliza sighed before telling him. "Well, she finally agreed to let the doctors check her out. Of course, she only agreed to that because Major Lane threatened to have her arrested if she didn't."

"Alex can be very strong-willed."

"That's a nice way of putting it. The funny thing is, when I tried to thank Major Lane for _persuading_ Alex to listen to reason, she said you were the one to suggest it."

"I was hoping the threat would not be necessary, but I'm really not surprised. I knew Alex wouldn't want to leave Kara's side and that she might need some incentive to take care of her own needs."

"Thank you. The good news is, the doctors cannot find any adverse effects from her trip to space in a spacecraft that wasn't even designed for humans." Eliza said shaking her head. "Part of me wants to be mad at her for attempting something so dangerous and the other part of me is so proud that she'd risk her life to save her sister."

J'onn laughed. "I know the feeling. Working with your daughters gives me a constant supply of pride and frustration." Then in a more serious voice, he asked. "How are you dealing with everything?"

In the last twenty-four hours, Eliza had not only nearly lost both her daughters on more than one occasion, but she'd also learned that her supposedly dead husband was alive and being held by some shady government organization. And J'onn didn't need to read her mind to see the toll all of that was taking on the poor woman.

"I'm better now that I know that the girls are going to be okay, but I keep worrying about Jeremiah. I guess that's why you interrupted when Alex tried to tell me the truth about him earlier."

"I'm sorry for hiding the truth, but at the time I thought you already had enough to worry about. And I knew adding to your anxieties was not going to help Jeremiah."

"The girls do the same thing. They try to protect me by keeping me in the dark about all the dangerous situations they're in. I guess they think if I don't know the terrifying details, then I won't worry about them, but that just causes my imagination to run wild."

"I'm sorry." He knew what it felt like to worry about Alex and Kara.

"At least with Kara I'm not completely in the dark since Supergirl is on the news all the time and she does call me more often. Plus I know she has superpowers. But with Alex…" She trailed off not needing to finish to get the point across.

"Alex may not have any superpowers, but she's far from helpless." He assured her. "She is highly trained, she works with some of the best agents in the country, she has access to state of the art weaponry, and she is one of the most capable agents I've ever led."

Eliza considered J'onn point for a minute. "J'onn, I have to ask. It's obvious how much you care about Alex and Kara and I know you said you've been looking out for them ever since Jeremiah d...ever since we lost Jeremiah, but Alex told me you were the one who recruited her to work for the DEO."

"You're wondering why I would ever involve Alex in such dangerous work if I've been trying to protect her."

Eliza nodded.

"In order to keep my promise to your husband, I've been keeping tabs on your family ever since Jeremiah saved me. And in that time I noticed early on that Alex possessed certain qualities that would make her a great DEO agent. She's strong, brave, smart, determined, calm under pressure, selfless and unlike the rest of the agents at the DEO, she's has a unique perspective from having an alien for a little sister. She's seen just how powerful aliens can be, so she never would underestimate one, but she also knows that not all aliens that come to this planet want to harm it, so she would not automatically treat them with hostility.

But still, for years I ignored my observation and told myself it didn't matter because I would never involve Alex in such dangerous work."

"So what changed?"

"I realized that keeping Alex from working for the DEO might not be in her best interest. Three years ago right before I recruited Alex, I saw she was starting to head down a very destructive path."

Eliza nodded her head, knowing exactly the time J'onn was referring to.

"For weeks I kept my distance and hoped that it was just a phase and Alex would turn things around on her own, but when that didn't happen I realized I had to intervene. Going to work for the DEO gave Alex a sense of purpose and helped her to turn her life around."

It was the truth, even if was an abridged version of it. He didn't know how much Eliza knew about that time in her daughter's life. He knew Eliza and Kara had noticed a change in Alex's behavior, but he doubted either knew just how far Alex had gone. J'onn had watched from a distance like he always did, as Eliza had tried to confront Alex. But Alex had pushed her mother away. Even Kara had been unable to reach her sister.

Then the night Alex had been arrested, he knew he had to act before she was too far gone. This was not the Alex he'd been watching since she was a teenager and if something didn't change she'd throw her life away.

"I've always wondered what happened to pull her out of that downward spiral. I knew it couldn't have been anything I said or did. Every time I tried to talk to Alex about what was going on, it only made things worse. Then she shut me out completely for months. I'm glad you were able to get through to her, I just wish the work wasn't so dangerous."

"I wish the same thing, but as much as I hate the danger she's in, I don't regret my decision. Alex is one of the best agents I've ever worked with. Her work for the DEO has saved countless lives, including mine and Kara's, and I'm so proud of her and everything she has accomplished."

"I'm proud of her too, not just for all the lives she saved and for all the good she's done, but for the woman she has become. But I know I don't always do the best job at showing her how proud I am.

I've always known she was capable of so much. When she was growing up I tried to push her to realize her full potential, but now I know all I did was make her feel like I was never pleased with her. I just hope I haven't done too much damage or that her working for the DEO isn't her attempt to prove herself."

"I don't believe it's like that for Alex. She wants to help people and make a difference in the world and the DEO just happens to be the best place for her to do that."

"She's always put others first. Maybe that is why I leaned on her so much with Kara. When we took Kara in, I knew she had lost so much and I wanted so badly to help her, but I didn't know what to do. I was so overwhelmed and Alex had always been so strong, I didn't mean to, but I know now I overlooked her needs."

J'onn wanted to say something to comfort Eliza, but he knew everything she was saying was true and he knew Alex had plenty of unresolved issues concerning her mother. But he also knew how much Eliza loved both of her daughters and she did the best she could to give them a great life.

"Alex and Kara are both compassionate, strong, and incredible women. You must have done something right. It's hard being a parent. You want to be perfect for your children, but in reality, no one is perfect and everyone ends up making some mistakes."

Eliza gauged from his tone that he wasn't just speaking in hypotheticals and asked. "Do you have children J'onn?"

"I did." He simply replied, letting the weight of his words fill the room.

"I'm so sorry."

For a moment neither said anything or even made eye contact. They both stared at nothing in particular, overcome with the intensity of their conversation.

"When you go through something like it makes you a shell of the person you used to be and it causes you to put up walls so you never have to experience that kind of pain ever again. But your daughters have managed to break through those walls and remind me of the man I used to be."

"I'm so glad you're a part of their lives and are looking out for them. If anything happened to either of them…" Her voice started to crack.

"I know."

Taking J'onn's hands in hers, she begged. "Please promise me you'll protect them and keep them safe."

As much as he wanted to, J'onn knew he could not make that promise. He'd experienced too much tragedy in his own life to think anyone could avoid it by sheer determination. However, he gave Eliza the best promise he could.

"I promise, I will look after your daughters as if they were my own."

"Thank you." Eliza hugged him. When she pulled away, she wiped a few tears from her eyes and added. "I better get going. I know you heal much faster than us, but you still need your rest. Goodbye J'onn."

"Goodbye, Dr. Danvers."

"Please call me Eliza." She said as she walked out the door.


End file.
